New To Forums, Want to Mod my EX

[Dingy0540]

My sister gave me her old 1997 Explorer XLT, as my first vehicle. And being that i had no loans t opay if i took it, i happily agreed. I recently went over the entire truck and decided a few things needed to be done. I went to a career tech school during high school, so i have some experience in this field.

1. I want to drop out the entire A/C system because it doesnt work, and i like windows down anyway. Can this be done? Would I need a new belt?

2. I would like the interior to be completely black. But i ran into some issues when looking into doing it. The dash is a soft material, that i dont know the name of. I know you can paint the hard things like the glove box, easily (relatively). But is there paint for this kind of material? and for the carpet on my door panels? I thought i saw a guy who posted that he found paint ford these things. If anyone could tell me where to buy i would appreciate it very much.

3. Can you supercharge the stock 4.0 L Cologne V6 engine? or does it have to be a replacement engine designed for this kind of mod?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Nathan

 

[dvo310]

I used to work at an aftermarket parts store when i owned my 95 explorer XLT V6 4WD. I was told by a guy that i worked with that the explorer and the Thunderbird shared the same v6. The exciting part of this is that the Thunderbird SC was supercharged and that i could go to a junkyard and rip the supercharger off the Thunderbird and with some other modifications (gaskets etc) and i could bolt it onto the explorer's V6. I never investigated this but maybe someone here could tell you if this is possible. I would love to hear if anything like this is possible for my current 04 Sport Trac V6.

 

[Dingy0540]

that would be nice, i'll look into it

 

[NoiseComplaint]

The Thunderbird SC is a 3.8, not the same motor.

 

[Rick]

1. I want to drop out the entire A/C system because it doesnt work, and i like windows down anyway. Can this be done? Would I need a new belt?

Yes, you would need a shorter belt.

2. I would like the interior to be completely black. But i ran into some issues when looking into doing it. The dash is a soft material, that i dont know the name of. I know you can paint the hard things like the glove box, easily (relatively). But is there paint for this kind of material? and for the carpet on my door panels? I thought i saw a guy who posted that he found paint ford these things. If anyone could tell me where to buy i would appreciate it very much.

No clue on this one...

3. Can you supercharge the stock 4.0 L Cologne V6 engine? or does it have to be a replacement engine designed for this kind of mod?

A few of our members have supercharged and turbocharged their 4.0 OHV engines with good results.